MEET MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

by James T. de Kay ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 1969

A step above The Picture Life of Martin Luther King and even more adroit in the choice and disposition of photograph, this is one that asks to be picked up and, notwithstanding the simplicity of vocabulary and sentence structure, refuses to be put down; it also eschews equivocation. With photos for emphasis, we learn of King' early circumstances (""a comfortable house"") and reaction to Jim Crow (""Colored Entrance"" signs of those times); his school days and college days and choice of a Montgomery pulpit--where ""most of all, they talked about the city buses""; Rosa Parks' refusal to move and the refusal of the blacks, led by King, to back down (the empty bus, the crowded car pool). After the sit-ins and the freedom rides, Birmingham (with police dogs and fire hoses), the March on Washington and the Nobel Prize. . . ""The Negroes were sick and tired of waiting. . . . And they were tired of hearing Martin Luther King asking them to be patient."" The riots are here and ""Black Power,"" along with King's countering ""Green Power"" and the plans for the Poor People's March, in a fair exposition with no covert editorializing. Neither does the wrap-up go soft: ""To him, justice was important. . . And laws were important. But only if they were fair laws. He went to jail 30 times fighting unfair laws."" As depicted, a life all blacks can take pride in (and somewhat older ones could read without embarrassment).

Pub Date: Nov. 3, 1969

ISBN: 0375803955

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION